


A small goodbye

by archives222



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Volume 3 (RWBY), Pre-Volume 6 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22745821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archives222/pseuds/archives222
Summary: Missing scene after Neo gets blown off the Atlas Airship. More emphasis on the hurt then the comfort.
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Old story I wrote before the release of Volume 5. Still like it.
> 
> Roman and Neo's goodbye
> 
> Disclimere: This is a non-profit fanfiction. I do not own RWBY. It is owned by Rooster Teeth. Please support the official release.

As the wind whipped Neo away from the ship she was fuming. That the little red runt could have hoisted her by her own weapon was infuriating. Yes, Neo knew that she wasn't a juggernaut. Adam Taurus had be able to trounce her and she knew that with the powers that the Roman's employer, Cinder was using, she wouldn't stand a chance. Just like against Raven Branwen. But to think a pipsqueak like 'Red' could do it was going to grind on her nerves for a while.

Well, until Roman could pick her up and use whatever magic he had to make her feel better.

That was when the explosion rocked the air.

Neo twisted in the wind and turned around to see part of the Atlas ship go up into flames. At that point her heart skipped a beat. 'Roman'! However while she was in the air it was useless. She had little control over herself and her movements and it was all the little bi-color eyed girl could do to keep from falling to her death.

With one hand on her umbrella she fished around for her scroll and hit the only number she had on speed dial. The call wouldn't connect. She hit it again only for it to fail.

'It's ok.' Neo told herself. 'Roman is a big boy. He can take care of himself.' She kept telling herself that even as the ground approached. But still, she kept an eye on the flaming fireball that was their ship. Making sure to note where it landed.

As Neo's feet hit the ground and she started running to where the miniature sun was now going down at. It took her almost an hour to get there. The problem was that Grimm kept getting in her way. Most of the civilians were cowering like the sheep there were and the hunters/military were so focused on the Grimm and the White Fang that a single girl in flamboyant colors wasn't even on their radar, especially when they saw her cutting Grimm down along with them. 'Probably assume I'm some huntress.'

When she made it to the wreck, the fire had mostly burnt itself out. The smoke clearing in the breeze. All that was left was charred metal. I fished out my scroll again and used the 'find' option that Roman insisted I have on it.

"Always know where the players on when preforming a job." Was his justification. I counted with him just wanting to know where I was at all times. To which he just glared at me and responded, "Not enough curves." Before walking away.

That stung a little but I was over it quickly enough. It was true and one thing I have learned from working under Roman Torchwick is that the facts are everything and fact was Roman had 20 years on me. Besides, I am a still a growing girl.

The phone when off and showed that his scroll was about twenty paces to my left. However there was a lot of slag metal there. He could be under it. He could have lost his scroll and be somewhere else. It didn't matter. I would go with what facts I had.

It didn't take long to cut my way through. When Roman first picked me up, he instantly had my regular blade replaced with one designed to cut diamonds.

And I did find him.

"Haya Neo." Roman muttered with a grimace.

I instantly took stock of his wounds. One arm was still under some rubble and I couldn't see it but I knew from experience that it would be crushed. Four pieces of metal were protruding from his body. One from where his left lung was. I had seen wounds like this before, heck, I had inflected a few of them just hours ago on the Atlas soldiers. It was fatal.

"Looks like I blew the job this time." He cracked. "Who would have though 'Red' had it in her." He reached into his pocket to and pulled out a cigar that had miraculously survived along with his lighter. After the cigar was in his mouth he tried to light it up only to realize that his good arm was missing a thumb.

"Care to do me a favor Neo?" He asked holding the lighter out. I nodded. Flicking the lighter open and striking the wick I held the flame over the nicotine strip until it started smoking.

"That a girl." He took two long drags on it to get the drug into his system and help with the pain that I knew he must be experiencing while I sat on my heels and waited.

"I screwed up big this time." Roman continued.

I shook my head 'No'.

"Course I did." Roman responded. "We should have booked the moment 'Red' showed up. But I was high on the fun of it all and got caught up in the moment." He coughed a little and some blood came out. "Now I'm like this." He gestured down to his mangled body. "Should have known better. Been a walking tombstone for years."

Again I shook my head in defiance of his words. Typing on my scroll, 'I was the one who messed up. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and let the brat get the better of me. I should have been up there with you. That's why you hired me to watch your back.'

He laughed at that and more blood came up. "Sorry." He said and I knew he was changing the subject. "It looks like I won't be able to deliver that severance package I promised you." He guested down to the remains of his jacket. "All I got on me is the pocket watch. Take it. Should net you a few hundred len or so. At least, that was the price tag it had when I stole it."

I shook my head but he wasn't seeing me anymore. Not really. "Just promise me one thing. You don't go after 'Little Red', ok? We are professionals and as my favorite villain in fiction says, 'Revenge is a sucker's game'."

I nodded to him. That he seemed to register as he worked the pocket watch out of his shredded clothing and pushed it into my hands along with his lighter that had his trademark jack-o-lantern emblem.

"Now that I'm no longer your boss could you listen to my last bit of advice?"

Again I nodded. "Always aim to survive. If it comes down to between your life or the job, always chose your life. There will be other jobs and other ways to make money." Another caught but this one weaker, his breath becoming slower.

"And could I ask you a favor?" He didn't stop to see my response. "Make sure my hat gets somewhere safe?"

I nod but realizing he can't see me anymore take his hand and put it to my face and nod again so he can feel it.

"That's good baby girl… Make you old man… proud of you…" With that his lips went slack and the cigar that he had resolutely kept between them fell down onto his jacket. Creating a small fire.

I reach forward and close the one eye of his that was still open before picking up the hat off the corpse. I turn and walk away from the man who was my father in every way but blood. Who picked me up out of nothing and taught me how to survive in a world where nothing was given to you and all you had was what you could grab onto.

I didn't even pay attention to my surrounding as I trudged my way out to a safe house that we had set up months ago. One that Cinder and her crew didn't know about. All the while my face was passive and blank. I didn't even have enough focus to maintain the color of my hair or eyes and they both fell back into their typical color. Roman always liked it when I stood out in the crowd. Always wanted my unique appearance to reflect my personality. But for right now, it was too much effort.

After I got underground and triple bolted the vault door behind my I let myself go. I curled up on the bed we had occasionally shared for warmth and wrapped myself around his hat. The room was deep underground and soundproof. Nobody could hear me cry.

In my mind quotes a line form a book Roman read to me once.

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can seal."


	2. Chapter 2

I spent a full week in the bunker. Not out of any kind of grief or morning. I worked all of that out of my system in the first twelve hours. No. It was for more practical reasons.

After suffering from such a large attack Vale would take a week to stabilize, either with the city back in control of the authorities or for it to be completely overrun and abandoned.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

Living down there was fine. It was stocked so that if Vale got too heated, Roman and I could hunker down there for a month without ever needing to leave. But it was isolated. I didn't know what was happening nor could I get in contact with anyone. So I waited.

I found a good place to put Roman's hat. There's a large stuffed Ursa that I bought for myself using the earing form my first solo job and hid it down there to scare Roman. I could think of no better place for the old bowler.

The lighter I kept for myself. It wouldn't fetch that much so why not indulged in a bit of sentimentality.

It was the pocket watch that was the problem. When I reemerged, Vale was in ruins. Entire blocks were crushed by Grimm. So the chances of finding a jeweler to apprise the time piece was out of the question.

In the ruins I found Melanie Malachite supporting her sister while they were on the run from a small pack of Crawler. I saved them and after a bit of a breakdown in communication, Miltia tried to kill me, I learned the general status of the city. After Cinder's crew pulled back, the Grimm took complete control of the city. Ozpin was missing in action and most of the other cities rulers had fled ahead of the approaching wave of Grimm. The Atleasian military evacuated the city and that was about it.

"Junior" and his mafia were tried to still eek out a living here but after over 170 hours of constant Grimm attacks, he and his people were running on out of energy and rounds. That was what the red and white twins before me were trying to do. Look for more ammunition or dust so that Junior could keep up that fight.

After thinking about it for a moment I typed onto my phone, 'how about a deal?'

"Why should we trust YOU?" The red one demanded.

"Last time we tried YOUR boss killed our men." The other finished.

I rolled my eyes.

The arrogance of these girls never ceased to amaze me. We were in a city overrun by Grimm for the first time in decades and they were questioning my competency. It was true that Roman had hired some of the gang out for help stealing the dust until Cinder could send the White Fang people to us, but he didn't kill them. Didn't these girls read the police report? First 'Little Red' showed up and interrupted the heist and then overly stern librarian teacher broke into the scene. If Cinder wasn't there he likely would have been arrested as well. How on earth would Roman have time to kill the mobsters?

Not to say that they didn't end up dead. I killed them while they were in police custody to prevent them from talking but these two didn't need to know that. In retrospect maybe not the best idea but I couldn't have stood the chance they would rat out Roman and myself.

'Fine. Bye.' I turned to leave and just as expected there came a "WAIT!"

Looking back over my shoulder I raised an eyebrow.

"Not that we are inviting you but…" White began

"… some additional support would appreciated." Red finished.

I turned back to them and broke into one of my smiles that boarded on insanity. Holding up my phone for them to read 'in exchange for info. Deal!'

I spent the next month working for Junior's mob. It's wasn't too bad. The old man had taken over a police station and impound lot. Strong enough to withstand most Grimm except for the Goliaths and that ominous dragon that was frozen at Beacon. But they were good enough to keep the giant elephants at bay.

I acted as the muscle. Providing security for Junior's team as the scoured the city looking for anything valuable to steal. He also had a rather lucrative side business of escorting families that could pay back to their houses to collect there things before leaving the city for good. Overall not too hard of a time.

Beside the Grimm there were some others to deal with.

That Black Cat Fanus that Roman always tried to get under the skin of was bouncing around. I don't know why. Especially after I learned that her blond teammate lost an arm to Adam Taurus. Too bad. I rather liked fighting the blond. She was fun to beat up.

Professor Librarian was also about. However she didn't seem to care too much about what Junior's mob was doing. In fact, on a few occasions she would help out in exchange for some food and a secure place to sleep. I have no idea what she was up to but I suspected Professor Librarian was trying to retake the city from the beasts. Fat chance of that.

Communication was a bit difficult at first. I had forgotten how rare Roman was for always understanding my manner by body language and not needing to type everything out. But it had it's advantages. Jr. didn't care if I got overly aggressive in fight as long as I got the job done and the twins were a bit sadistic themselves. It's so rare to find girls my age wondering how fast it would take to break every bone in a person's head.

But that was all just side job for me. My real goals were much farther away.

The White Fang had abandoned Vale not long after its leadership did. Only a few were left around to keep an eye on things. After 'interrogating' a few I learned that Adam was no longer in the city or even on this part of the continent.

Cinder's people had disappeared too. While I couldn't determine if Miss Fall still alive or not, I did learn that Mercury and Emerald had retreated to Mistral Kingdom. They were my best bet to find Cinder.

I sat in the room I shared with the twins as space was at a premium. Looking over the files I had complied. They were separated out into two categories. My target and potential help.

I dropped file on Pyrrha Nikos on the floor. She had apparently tried to fight Cinder and lost. Along with Ozpin. He was still MIA and thus useless for my endeavors.

Next was my blond sparing partner, Yang Xiao Long. She had apparently been moved home and was out the picture for a while. I briefly considered visiting her and finishing our little match… but that would wait till later.

Then came the Atlas file. While they would have served my purpose rather well I had just killed an entire airship of their people not too long ago. I seriously doubt that General Ironwood was the forgiving type in that manner of that nature.

Cinder, Mercury and Emerald all shared a file. Roman had dug up a fair amount on the two underlings and I had updated it with their more recent activates. However Cinder Fall was still a black hole. I couldn't find anything on her and that troubled me.

Both Roman and I knew she wasn't the top of the food chain. That she was reporting to someone else. It wasn't Adam Taurus or the White Fang. They were using each other. Allies of convenience rather than true friends. But that didn't answer the question of who Cinder was and who was she working for.

The next clipping of papers was what truly interested me. 'Little Red' aka Ruby Rose. She had apparently had some hand in freezing the dragon Grimm. I had also found out just the previous day that not only was her uncle Qrow Branwen, a member of Ozpin's inner circle but that 'Little Red' herself had just disappeared from her father's house. She and a few others had been spotted heading in the same direction Mercury and Emerald were confirmed at.

They would be my ticket. I knew that in order to get to the Mistral, they would have to pass through a choke point in the mountains. If I hurried, I could beat them there and offer my services to them. It would be a little tricky. Ruby knew that I worked with Roman and depending on how much her sister Yang had told her, that I was on the train as well.

However I had something to offer. All the information before me on the White Fang's operations, Cinder Fall's people and their last known location. Between all that intelligence and my own prestigious fighting skills I could buy my way into her little team.

I took a step back from the table.

I promised Roman that I wouldn't go after 'Little Red' for revenge and I would stick to my word. It wasn't the girl's fault that Roman was gone. We were on opposite sides of the game. Thinks happen and people die. No. I placed the blame sole on one person's head. Cinder Fall. She was our employer. The success and failure of any job rested on her shoulders alone. And putting him in a situation where Roman died would always be a failure in my book.

So I reviewed my plan. She was too strong for me to take on in a fair fight at this point. I don't know what this 'Fall Maiden' power is but it was beyond what I could handle. So I wouldn't play fare. I sold my severance package from Roman, the pocket watch, to a clock maker under Hei Xiong's employ for a fair amount. It apparently retailed for 900 and with a bit of arm twisting, and only one broken finger, I was able to get 650 for it. That was a start and with everything I had been saving up I was finally there.

I looked down at the small vile that had been delivered that morning. It was a highly concentrated extract of a poison form a rare kind of Spider Grimm. Once in the system it could disrupt and disable Auras and Semblances. It was however very difficult to acquire so that is why it had taken so long. The governments of the four, now three, kingdoms kept the poison under lock and key for good reason. It was the bane of any hunter's existence and not for sale legally. I could have bought my own airship for the amount of Len it cost me to acquire it through illegal means.

The plan was simple. Follow Ruby Rose and her people. Locate Cinder Fall. Introduce the poison to Cinder and cut the raven hair woman's head clean off. Take it back to Vale and burn in as a totem to Roman. Then I would say goodbye to the man and move on with my life. And should 'Little Red' or anyone else get in my way… well, I can handle them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't originally my intended second part. I had originally wanted a snapshot of Roman's life up till he got hired on by Cinder but that one is not coming out right.
> 
> If it every gets done I'll post it but for now, this is it.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's notes
> 
> With the official word from Rooster Teeth that yes, Roman Torchwich it dead I felt safe in writing this post volume 3 episode 11. I have yet to see episode 12.
> 
> Out of all the villains so far, Roman was my favorite and by extension Neo as his second.
> 
> Mercury is just a killer out to get his fix. Emerald seems to have a sense of morality even if it is buried. Adam is all for his 'revolution' and while menacing doesn't yet feel like he has the screen presence to fill Roman's shoes. The only guess I have on Cinder is that she or the woman she is working for was once an Atlas specialist under Ironwood who has went rouge and that is just speculate to a shot in the dark.
> 
> Roman however was flamboyant and fun to watch. From what I have read he was only supposed to be the bad guy for Vol 1 ep. 1 but was so well received they brought him back for more and I am happy they did. The official party line from Rooter Teeth as seen here under The Consequences of Roman Torchwitk's death by Swisslp is something I can for the most part agree upon. He was a good villain and did all that could have been expected of him. I don't quite like their though line that he was merely motivated by fear and that will be covered in the second chapter of this story. They say they killed him off to make room for other characters to get screen time and expanded upon their rolls in a series that has VERY limited time to develop their characters. Not enough in my opinion.
> 
> I would like to see more done with Roman Torchwick and however not at the expense of the narrative as a whole. Perhaps if they are having difficulty getting all that they want out of merely the web episodes then they should also try expanding into online Novella to supplement some of the more mundane things.
> 
> They also say that it would allow for Adam Taurus to come more to the forefront and potentially give Neo a chance to get character development as well.
> 
> If not that is why we have fanfictions.
> 
> The line about 'revenge being a sucker's game' is from the 1994 tv series Gargoyles.
> 
> The quote in the end is something I found online at quotes. From the book The Carolinian by Richard Puz.
> 
> While I do like reading the stories that have Neo/Roman romantically involved I feet the creators as merely intend them to be platonic friends. This story was partially inspired by Roman's Grotto by TheLastSonata and Costumes and Facades by Liara_90. Please check them both out as they are excellently written.


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